November 2011

Thursday, November 17 marked the two month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States. Yet, it also marked the four month anniversary of the beginning of the mass international movement for economic equality: the Occupy Dataran Movement. In July, protestors in the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia assembled in Merdeka Square to, according to their official Facebook page, “reclaim Dataran Merdeka as an open and democratic space for people to gather, discuss and explore an alternative to the current representative democracy.”

Although less than one hundred people showed up to Occupy Dataran, the event nevertheless sparked the assemblage of thousands of protesters in Montreal, Canada. On October 15, over 1,000 Canadians protested in Victoria Square, a public space directly between the Montreal World Trade Centre and the Montreal Exchange (where financial derivatives are traded). Within two months, the movement had spread from Kuala Lumpur to Montreal to New York City to 95 other cities around the world.

The Occupy Movement is now an international phenomenon that has mobilized thousands of citizens all over the world to unite for the causes of economic and social equality. With the slogan, “We are the 99%,” protestors world-wide are attacking the greed of the “top 1%” of citizens in their country that own most of the nation’s wealth. In America, for example, a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office showed that in 2007 the richest 1% of the American population owned 34.6% of the country’s total wealth, and the next 19% owned 50.5%. Thus, the top 20% of Americans owned 85% of the country’s wealth and the bottom 80% of the population owned 15%. So, it shouldn’t be too surprising that the original appeal of the movement gained so much intra-national momentum—it is relevant to the majority of citizens. Nevertheless, the rate and power with which the movement went global is quite amazing.

On September 17, 2011 New York City and San Francisco followed suit with the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy San Francisco movements. By October 9, protests had spread across 82 countries. The movement has not spared any country due to its size, political ideology, or authoritarian government. Protestors in China demonstrated at an Occupy Movement in Hong Kong. Thousands of protesters have occupied cities in France and Belgium, despite numerous arrests. In Brussels, Catholic universities and socialist parties have joined in, as protestors yelled “Save us, not the bank!”

In the United Kingdom, protesters have gathered in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh (the initial target for the protestors was the London Stock Exchange in Paternoster Square). Although attempts to occupy the square were resisted by police, the movement has continued all over England and the UK.

All over the world, despite harsh consequences, arrests, deaths, and police brutality, protestors continue fighting. Even in countries with some of the world’s highest tax rates—like Belgium and France—Occupy Movements have surfaced and spread. Hence, the movement for economic equality transcends culture or even communist vs. capitalist governments; the movement has tapped into a discontent much deeper: greed’s oppression of the majority. It seems the world’s 99% is finally listening to the words of Howard Beale, the fictional anchor in the film Network: “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’ Things have got to change.”

Occupy Everything: An International Cry for Equality was last modified: May 22nd, 2012 by thegeneration

Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora, 45, died November 11, 2011 in a helicopter crash outside Temamatla, Mexico. He was known as a strong law and order politician who had dedicated his career to fighting the country’s notorious drug cartels and government corruption.

The chopper went down in the southern part of Mexico City on its way to a prosecutors meeting in the neighboring state of Morelos. It is unclear what caused the crash. “We are investigating all possible causes of this unfortunate incident,” Alejandra Sota, the government’s national security spokeswoman, said at a news conference Friday.

He made his name cracking down on drug cartel violence in his home state of Baja California by forging close cooperation between military and civilian law-enforcement officials. He tirelessly promoted the same strategy as President Felipe Calderon’s No. 2, the top policy official in Mexico’s all-out push against drug traffickers and corruption. Blake Mora also led the push to clean up Mexico’s notoriously corrupt state and local police forces. “We’re trying to establish a justice system that both prevents criminal impunity and responds to the needs of society and its demands for social justice,” he said at a meeting of government officials this year.

Despite some tendencies to suspect a hit on the top officials leading Calderon’s offensive against organized crime, the crash that killed Blake Mora and seven others may have had to do with bad weather. A Learjet that slammed into a Mexico City street in 2008, killing former interior secretary Juan Camilo Mourino and 15 others, was blamed on pilot error. One of Blake Mora’s last postings on his Twitter account commemorated the loss of Mourino. “Today we remember Juan Camilo Mourino three years after his death, a person who was working to build a better Mexico,” he tweeted on Nov. 4.

…

Calderon, visibly emotional over the loss, said the Super Puma helicopter was flying in fog when it went down in a remote area southeast of Mexico City. Still, he said all possible causes were under investigation. He said the pilot had sufficient expertise. “Mexico has lost a great patriot … and I lost a dear friend,” said Calderon, who struggled to maintain composure at one point during an address to the country. “He was not only an exemplary minister, he was an exemplary Mexican.”

The media has whipped itself into a speculative frenzy after a recent “leak” from the Obama administration. A Newsweekexclusive story, released on September 25th, revealed that President Obama secretly authorized the sale of bunker busting bombs to Israel. These bombs are an important asset in the strategy of nuclear deterrence, because they are able to penetrate targets buried underground (hence their name “bunker busters”). This news isn’t particularly surprising given the United States’ close relations with Israel. What is odd is that the U.S. has been transferring these bombs to Israel since 2009. In light of recent events, was this secret information really just an unauthorized tip-off by some insider? Or was it strategically “released” to the public but made to look like a leak? The timing of the affair seems to suggest the latter.

One explanation for the sudden acknowledgement of the bombs sale is the recent news about Iran’s nuclear facilities. The U.S. boasts a long history of deterring Iran’s nuclear capacity. In 2010 the U.S. used a computer worm named Stuxnet to cripple one-fifth of the Iran’s working centrifuges and briefly halted the country’s nuclear expansion plans. Western nations widely believe that Iran’s pursuit of fission-based energy is a guise to hide its development of nuclear weapons.

Given these suspicions, just imagine the Obama administration’s reaction when the New York Times wrote on September 1, 2011 that Iran “is moving its most critical nuclear fuel production to a heavily defended underground military facility outside the holy city of Qum.” In addition, Iran also announced its first nuclear plant is going into operation. In fact, Iran’s state-controlled TV station Al Alam announced that the $1 billion Bushehr plant was officially inaugurated on Sept. 12, 2011. Whether Iran is secretly hiding a nuclear-weapons agenda or not, these developments certainly do nothing to deter worldwide suspicion.

In light of these events, it is perfectly reasonable for the Obama administration to remind Iran that any ventures into a nuclear buildup will be closely shadowed. Additionally, instead of publicly admitting the sale, it makes sense to release it as a “leak”. Iran could perceive an outright declaration as too hostile, which would lead to a further strain in its already tense relationship with the United States.

A second plausible reason for this timely announcement is U.S. domestic politics. President Obama’s approval among the Jewish American community is declining. This is due in part to a feeling that Obama is less supportive of Israel than his predecessors. Critics point toward Obama’s urging of Israel to make huge concessions to the Palestinians based on the 1967 borders as evidence of this. A recent Gallup poll conducted from September showed a drop in Obama’s approval ratings from 60 percent in June to 55 percent. His disapproval ratings also increased from 32 to 40 percent, resulting in a net 11 point drop in approval from the Jewish population.

The Jewish community plays an integral role in voting, especially in swing states such as Pennsylvania and Florida. With the upcoming elections looming ahead, it only makes sense that Obama would attempt to increase his approval ratings in this community. What better way to do this than “announce” that he’s been secretly boosting Israel’s military since 2009? In theory this information, coupled with his vehement refusal of Palestine’s entry into the United Nations, should be more than enough to persuade any disconsolate Jewish American that Obama has Israel’s best interests at heart.

Given these two crucial and timely reasons, the “leak” was surely no accident. It was a strategic maneuver on Obama’s part. Not only did he subtly warn Iran of his watchful eye, but he also released it before the upcoming elections to enhance his image among an important group of voters. Talk about killing two birds with one stone! Sure, it’s possible that this could have all just been a slip-of-the-tongue accident. According to recent happenings, however, it seems like this mouth was ready to talk in the first place.